


A Tale of a Mask

by parasolghost



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-23
Updated: 2013-07-23
Packaged: 2017-12-21 02:04:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/894519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parasolghost/pseuds/parasolghost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On his twenty-first birthday, the Prince of Winter holds a masquerade ball for the purpose of meeting all of the eligible bachelorettes in the kingdom. However, Jack finds that he's too hung up on a memory of his first love to care.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale of a Mask

Of all the things he should have felt, as the young Prince of Winter stood in a festive room filled with high spirits and an aura of upper-class socialization, music blaring from every corner and hearty conversations plentiful, the last thing Jack had expected was to be bored out of his mind.

Sure, at first, the prospect of having a humongous masquerade ball in honor of _his_ twenty-first birthday seemed pretty exciting. He supposed, as he entered the ballroom, which was didn’t seem to have a lack for food, activities, or dancing, Jack was pretty pleased. And _maybe_ when North mentioned that he took the liberty of inviting royalty from other lands, Jack nearly jumped in excitement as he kept a close eye out for the short, auburn-haired boy he met five years ago. Nevertheless, as the night went on without Jack having found aforementioned boy, he began to feel the urge to retreat to his bedroom to sleep off the rest of the night.

And yet, here he was, sipping from a wine glass distractedly, absolutely mask-less at his own god damn masquerade ball, as the woman in front of him chatted aimlessly about who knows what.  
After all, according to Aster’s constant nagging, “It was _his_ job as the heir to the throne to meet _all_ of eligible bachelorettes in the vicinity. Therefore, _he_ wasn’t allowed to wear a mask and have fun because _he_ was an adult and Aster obviously had a stick up his ass."

Okay, admittedly he might’ve made up that last part, but it seemed accurate enough.

Either way, despite all of Aster’s reasoning, Jack yearned to escape the line of women waiting to bat their eyelashes at him and sift through the crowd, talking to his actual friends, and asking people “excuse me are you, perhaps, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third—future chief of Berk?"

What could he say? He had been enamored with the boy ever since they met five years ago. Hiccup and his father were visiting his kingdom to deal with some foreign affairs when Jack was sixteen and Hiccup, if he remembered correctly, was fourteen. The two stayed for a week and North assigned him with the job of keeping the skinny younger boy company.

They had spent a seemingly short week causing trouble, exploring the kingdom, and talking and before Jack could contain himself, he burst out a nervous “I love you" on their last day together. Jack remembered fondly that the scrawny Viking teenager’s ears turned bright red as he shifted nervously before nodding and giving Jack a quick peck on the cheek, promising to send him letters before disappearing behind the castle doors.

The letters had been exchanged back and forth for a good year or so, with Jack falling even more in love with each word he read. However, suddenly the letters stopped with no explanation and Jack felt his heart break into a million tiny pieces. He promised himself that he would forget about Hiccup and move on with the rest of his life.

Yet, here he was, five years later, still plagued with thoughts of the auburn-haired boy and how his green eyes lit up whenever he talked about his inventions or how his capable fingers would sketch the details of Jack’s face as the older prince napped or how he’d gaze in complete awe and admiration as he watched Jack create frost patterns on the windowsill or how—

 _God, this woman’s chattering was incessant,_ he observed as he rolled his eyes and decided to occupy his time by scanning the crowd distractedly, picking out the faces he knew and the ones he didn’t, his hope falling with every second as he failed to spot his beloved Viking boy.

The white-haired prince sighed, running a free hand through his hair in exasperation as he looked around for the last time. _Nothing_ , he thought bitterly to himself, _it’s the same people all over again—the blonde with the humongous hat, the bald guy that talks about his sheep, Aster, an auburn-haired guy with green eyes, that one servant from—_

Jack’s eyes widened and doubled back. There was no way… was there? He had lost sight of him and felt his heart sink. Was he so desperate that he _imagined_ Hiccup was there?

_Well, there’s only one way to find out._

Jack scanned the room before his eyes landed on Aster, who was talking to another noble.

“Excuse me, Madame,” he interrupted her one-sided conversation. She stared in shock as he quickly dragged her towards Aster. “Have I introduced you to Sir E. Aster of the Royal Order? He’s been in the business of keeping me in line for quite some time.”

Aster raised an eyebrow at Jack, but greeted the woman nonetheless. “My lady,” he said simply.

“Wow, can you believe it,” Jack said suddenly, wrenching his arm from the lady’s grasp. “I think I’ve had too much shrimp. I’m going to go take a dump,” Jack said, his lips twitching when he saw Aster’s look of incredulity and the woman’s look of disgust. “I’ll be right back,” he lied as he slipped into the crowd and darted towards the entrance.

“Tooth!” Jack called to a woman in a brightly colored dress.

“Jack!” she greeted him with a bright smile. “Just the person I wanted—I need a plate of cake at the third table from the left wall,” she called at a servant who disappeared behind the kitchen doors. She turned back to face the white-haired prince, who looked at her in surprise. “What? I have a party to run you know?” she pouted and motioned for him to follow her as she barked orders to servants.

“Anyway,” Jack began, finding it difficult to match her pace, “do you know if anyone from Berk is here?”

“Berk?” Toothiana raised an eyebrow at him as they turned a corner. “I’m not sure, Jack, there’s people from all over in— _hey you!_ ” A servant jumped at the short woman’s call. “I told you I needed someone to clean up the fourth table fifteen minutes ago!” Tooth shook her head as the servant hurried down the hall to attend to the problem. “Either way, I haven’t really been paying close attention to the guest list—it’s not my job.”

“Are you sure,” Jack asked, suddenly aware of the desperation in his voice as he weaved through the crowd. “I mean, maybe you’ve seen a familiar name or…?”

Tooth shook her head. “I don’t think so Jack—I haven’t seen anyone familiar for the past hour because I’ve been running all over the place,” she suddenly stopped in her steps and Jack almost crashed into her. “Why do you ask?”

“I, uh,” Jack ran a hand through his hair, “you know, just curious.”

Tooth gave him a curious look and Jack felt small from the intensity of the woman’s scrutinizing glance. He let out a small sigh in relief when she finally shrugged and turned to open a door. She jerked her head for him to follow her. Jack raised an eyebrow, but did as she said nonetheless, peeking both ways before closing the door behind them.

“Tooth…”

“Hm?” she answered without looking at him as reached for something on a shelf.

“This is a closet,” Jack narrowed his eyes in confusion.

“I know,” she grunted as she jumped to pull something off a rather high shelf. “It’s perfect.”

“What are you—“

Jack was interrupted as she shoved a neatly folded coat and a plain silver mask into his open hands.

“Tonight’s your twenty-first birthday, Jack,” she smiled. “I figured you could have some fun at your own ball before North and Aster push all of your responsibilities on you at once, don’t you think?”

Jack jaw dropped as he stammered for the right words to say. “Tooth, I… I don’t…”

“Don’t worry about it,” she folded her arms and gave his hair a pat. “I can’t look after you forever, but I can at least do this.” Tooth walked towards the closet door before freezing in her steps. She pivoted on her heel, a thoughtful look on her face. “Actually, I do remember seeing someone familiar.”

Jack looked up, his eyes wide as he looked at Toothiana in expectation. “Who?”

“I saw Merida walking around a while ago,” she said. “Should I tell her that you’re disguised?”

Jack frowned in disappointment, but figured that Merida was probably as good as he was going to get. “Yeah,” he answered as he unbuttoned his coat. “Thanks.”

She gave him a wave in parting before disappearing behind the closet door. Jack threw his coat to the side and replaced it with blue coat he was given. Although it definitely didn’t live to the grandeur of the high-quality clothes that were expected of the royalty, he felt better in it and figured that it would help his disguise. He pushed his bangs back as he slipped the mask’s strings around his face. The mask was rather impressive—blue frost patterns decorated the light, silver metal, which had charming, dull shine to it. It was simple, but seemed rather interesting to him nonetheless.

Jack shuffled back into the main ballroom, noticing, with a triumphant grin, that Aster didn’t scold him as he passed. He decided that the best way to celebrate his success was to sneak a bite (or twenty) of his birthday cake. He weaved through the crowd and towards one of the buffet tables, thankful for the ballroom’s dim lighting and the humongous crowd of young and old people alike that took attention from his normally distinct white hair. He approached the cake, a mischievous gleam shining in his eyes as he grabbed the nearest spoon. He licked his lips and dug a big chunk out of the bottom tier before promptly stuffing the spoon in his mouth.

He let out a pleased sigh—Sandy’s cakes were always the best and he was sure no one would notice if he had another bite… Jack turned his head from side-to-side, narrowing his eyes at anyone who might potentially foil his plan. When he had convinced himself that no one was paying attention, he had another spoonful of cake.

“I saw that, you little troll."

Jack jumped at the voice behind him and whirled around to see a girl smirking mischievously, her mess of curly red locks swishing as she shook her head at him. “Just what am I to do with you, Frosty?"

“Well, if it isn’t the Princess of DunBroch," Jack said through a mouthful of cake. “You know, Merida, the point of the mask is to hide your identity, but the hair will just give you away every time."

Merida crossed her eyes as she tried to look down at her decorative red mask before sticking her tongue out at Jack defiantly, “Look who’s talkin’, Prince Look-At-Me-I-Have-White-Hair-And-Ice-Powers."

“Well hey, at least it’s been working so far," Jack popped the spoon out of his mouth and tossed it into a bin. “If I’d’ve known you were just going to make fun of me all evening, I wouldn’t have told Tooth to tell you where I was."

“Oh, don’t be such a baby," Merida rolled her eyes in spite of her smile. “Actually, I wanted to introduce you to someone."

Jack groaned, “Merida, please, I think I’ve already become acquainted with every single woman on this part of the globe and possibly the next part over as well; don’t make me do this."

“Ah, put a sock in it, Snowman," Merida chuckled, “He’s a friend—said he’d like to meet you."

“A friend, huh?" Jack repeated with a sigh as Merida grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the far east side of the ballroom.

“Yeah, he’s pretty popular nowadays," she said with a shrug. “He’s been called ‘the dragon conqueror’ and has been doing a lot of travelling recently. He’s quite the looker—I think you’ll like him." At the last statement, Merida gave Jack a quirk of the eyebrows to which the Winter Prince smirked.

“Please," Jack scoffed donning an offended look, “if anyone’s a looker, it’d be…" Jack trailed off when they stopped a few feet away from a dark-haired man who seemed to be gazing out the window serenely. Jack’s jaw dropped and his eyes were fixed on the handsome stranger, to which Merida rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm.

The man was an average height, perhaps as tall as Jack. His black and green mask covered the top half of his face and some sort dark fabric covered the eye holes in his mask. He was looking out the window and tapping his fingers against the windowsill in a rather fevered manner. He stopped only to run a hand through his soft-looking, auburn hair as he bit his lip, looking rather impatient. He snapped his neck to the side and rolled his shoulders, before turning to see Merida. A small smile played on his lips as he lifted a hand to greet her.

So, all in all, Jack concluded that he really had no reason _not_ to stare at the handsome-looking stranger.

“Oi, get your dick back in your pants, Snowflake. Don’t embarrass yourself now,” Merida teased as she and Jack walked.

“Can you imagine the state your mother would be in if she heard you using that sort of language?”

“Aye, but my mother’s not here right now, is she?” Merida retorted before turning to the masked stranger. “Anyway, Jack, this is my friend. He’s been dying to meet you for some time, apparently.”

“Does your ‘friend’ have a name,” Jack said as he gazed at the stranger with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

The stranger gave him a crooked smile that seemed to shoot Cupid’s metaphorical arrow right through Jack’s chest. Jack’s eyes widened and his brain clicked. There was something about this man’s smile he just couldn’t place…

“No, not really,” Merida answered quickly. Jack raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. “He, ah, doesn’t talk much either.”

Jack narrowed his eyes. Obviously, they were both acting terribly suspicious and, in his experience, suspicious behavior normally lead to terrible things. They _could_ be plotting to kidnap him (it happens) or maybe Merida had some huge prank set up (he wouldn’t put it past her to embarrass him on his 21 st birthday if it was all in good fun). Jack shrugged it off. After all, he trusted Merida and he would always catch her before she could pull a fast one on him anyway. He might as well humor them for now.

“Oh, a silent dragon conqueror, huh?” Jack mused. “That’s pretty impressive—I knew a pretty cool guy who lived in dragon-infested areas and I heard they’re pretty terrible, but I bet you have hundreds of dragon heads mounted above your chimney, don’t you?”

Jack knit his eyebrows together in confusion when the other man shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips.

“I guess ‘dragon conqueror’ is sort of misleading,” Merida explained, Jack jumped—he almost forgot she was even there for a second. “Personally, I always thought ‘dragon tamer’ was more fitting, but I guess the name stuck.”

Jack’s eyes widened, “Dragon tamer? That’s actually really incredible.” Jack watched with amusement as the stranger’s face redden at Jack’s compliment, which he attempted to cover with a cough, only to be betrayed by the pink hue of his ears. _Damn_ , that was adorable. It reminded him distinctly of—

“Is that ‘Punzie?” Merida squinted, raising a hand tentatively before waving it eagerly. “I think it is! I’ll be, uh, right back,” Merida’s eyes darted between the two, who still hadn’t broken eye contact with each other. “Why don’t you guys, er, get to know each other. Go dance or something,” Merida elbowed Jack in the arm and winked, before giving them both a little wave in parting.

In Merida’s place stood a sort of awkward silence between the two as Jack inspected the other man’s face with curious eyes. He watched, in a total trance, as the stranger broke eye contact, looking into the distance sheepishly as he blushed rather furiously under Jack’s gaze. Upon closer inspection, Jack noticed that the man’s left pant leg was rolled up slightly to reveal a prosthetic leg of interesting design, something that caused even more questions to form in Jack’s head. He ran his hand through his hair once again and trail along the base of his neck as he pulled at the collar of his shirt.

In short, Jack was completely infatuated with him. In fact, he was so infatuated that he didn’t realize he was staring until someone bumped into him from behind, breaking him away from his daydream.

“So, uh,” Jack stammered, “you… Hungry or thirsty… or something?”

The man pursed his lips in thought before making a drinking motion with his hand. Jack raised an eyebrow. The more this guy refused to speak the more curious Jack became. Nevertheless, Jack shrugged and let it slide for the time being.

“I’ll be right back."

The time away from the mysterious stranger was sort of a relief to Jack. It gave him time to think in private silence; admittedly, something he didn’t do as often as he should.

As Jack grabbed two glasses of wine from the table absently, he began to wonder what it was that fascinated him about the man. Was it his the way he ran his hand through his auburn hair? Or maybe it was the way he blushed and contradicted his cool and mysterious appearance. Perhaps it was the crooked smile that would part his lips slightly to reveal equally crooked teeth. Or the faint trail of freckles and the slight stubble that Jack could make out when he looked *very* closely.

Or maybe it was the way looking at the man shook Jack’s brain in a moment of déjà vu and butterflies fluttering in his stomach. A feeling that he had not felt in a long time—not since he met Hiccup.  
The thought of his scrawny, awkward first love had him groaning out loud. It was terribly pathetic how he could miss someone he had only known for about a week five years ago. The fact that the slightest reminder of Hiccup made his heart ache and the fact that he was still searching relentlessly for his lost love irritated him. He was Jack Frost, the Prince of Winter, for heaven’s sake! He was a troublemaker and a free spirit; never to be tied down by any limit, rule, or person.

_Except one._

Jack put the glasses back down on the table to run a hand through his white tresses. Jack sighed and glanced back at the stranger, who had returned to looking out the window. Enough was enough.  It was time for Jack to give up and move on. He was ready to leave behind half a decade of wondering and pain. It was going to be a difficult process, he knew, but waiting had been hard enough and, quite frankly,  he was tired.

Jack shook his head and put on a smile before bounding over to the masked stranger and pushing the glass into his hands. “Sorry I took so long," Jack apologized with a grimace. “Can you believe they were _completely_ out of wine for a while?"  
The man gave Jack a small smile that made his heart flutter. Jack tilted his head a bit and grinned.

“You don’t say much do you?" Jack asked. The way the man’s lips twitched gave Jack the impression that he was being laughed at. “Well, okay, I know Merida said that, but I dunno…" Jack began hastily, “You sort of remind me of someone I know."

The man tilted his head and Jack rubbed his neck, laughing sheepishly. 

“Well, we have this chef here—he’s my favorite—his name’s Sanderson McSnoozie, but I call him Sandy. He never talks, but he has a really expressive way of communicating," Jack chuckled. To Jack’s relief, the other man was smiling and Jack was cleared of all worries that this handsome stranger might’ve been bored.

“Actually," Jack found himself saying, “I had a great friend who came by a couple years back who was absolutely impressed with how expressive Sandy was. He always, begged me to go visit the kitchen to talk and learn about the little guy," Jack said wistfully. He shuffled his feet and stuffed a hand in his pocket. He looked to the side and drank his wine inconspicuously. “I’d always tell him that he was a big dork and we should do something fun, but nothing really made me as happy as the way he would light up when he felt interested…"

Jack glanced back at the stranger to see him biting his lip. Jack felt his face heat up significantly (something he definitely wasn’t used to as a controller of ice) as he began to realize just what he was rambling about.

“Oh, sorry," Jack said quickly as he placed his glass on the windowsill. “I-I didn’t mean to ramble or anything.”

The other man gave him a warm smile that had Jack’s heart practically leaping out of his chest to do a couple of back flips in midair. Jack returned the smile sheepishly, bringing his glass back up to his lips in a vain attempt to hide the blush that rose to his cheeks. He peeked over the top of his glass and watched (inconspicuously, he hoped) as the man pursed his lips as he hummed, looking down at his feet. He swayed back and forth in tune with the music, his leg creaking just slightly as he moved.

Jack felt a small smile creep onto his lips. “Hey, you wanna dance?” Jack found himself saying before he could stop himself.

The other man looked so surprised at Jack’s question that he opened his mouth for a second, as if to try and say something before immediately slamming it shut (much to Jack’s disappointment) and settled for tilting his head.

When Jack’s question caught up with him, his face reddened and he pulled at his collar, his eyes dropping to his feet. “Er, I mean, you seem like you like this song and I could use something to do… or something,” Jack stammered. “You know, if you wanna dance—I mean I can totally understand if you don’t want to.”

 _Shut up, you moron_. Jack thought to himself, gritting his teeth.

“Actually, I _completely_ understand if you don’t want to,” Jack blurted out. “I mean, I guess            it’d be kind of weird for two men to dance together even though people don’t really know who we are and I don’t really have a reputation as the best dancer and I guess it’d be kind of hard to dance with,” Jack’s eyes flickered to the man’s prosthetic leg. Jack cursed internally, letting out a groan and dragging his hand down his face. “Sorry, I’ll shut up now.”

Ladies and gentlemen, the most desirable bachelor in the kingdom.

Maybe he could make up an excuse to leave. Maybe he could find Merida and have her mediate between him and the handsome stranger once again; avoid any more awkward conversations and making a fool out of himself. Yeah, that seemed like a good idea.

Jack looked up and opened his mouth, about to excuse himself. Instead, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened when he realized that the masked man was clutching his sides, convulsing in silent laughter (somewhat silent at least; every once in a while he snorted which amused Jack incredibly). When he finally lifted his head to look at Jack, a wide smile plastered on his face and his face red, he nodded.

“Wait, really?” Jack asked. When he nodded again, this time a bit more calmly, Jack’s heart soared. “Wow, maybe I should try being a rambling idiot more often.” The other man shook his head, his smile still spread on his lips, and Jack laughed, holding out his hand towards the green-masked stranger. “Okay, I guess I got lucky this time.”

They stepped quietly onto the dance floor and moved off towards a corner where no one really saw them. Jack was suddenly extremely thankful for the mysterious and busy nature of the party, as no one really paid them heed nor showed them any signs of recognition. Jack placed his hand tentatively on the other man’s hip which he found, much to his surprise, to be extremely bony. In fact, now that they were closer, he noticed just how thin the stranger’s wrists  and arms were. Jack shook his head a bit, pushing persistent memories out of his head before looking straight at his dancing partner.

They were closer now, stepping in tune with the music, and Jack could see just how plentiful the fading freckles on the man’s face were. The white-haired prince’s line of vision traced the man’s face and he hoped he wasn’t too obvious when he stared longingly at a pair of thin lips  However, despite Jack’s fascination with the galaxy of freckles that decorated his face and the lips pursed into a nervous line, his eyes kept travelling back to the intricate mask that hid the rest of his face and, most likely, a lovely pair of eyes that Jack would’ve done anything to get a peek of. Nonetheless, Jack was never one to push someone to do something they didn’t want to do (most of the time), so he settled with examining the rather interesting designs on the mask.

Jack actually founded himself intrigued with the mask as they danced in a comfortable silence. Gold and green vines intertwined each other on a black background and tiny leaves dappled the vines in various places. To Jack’s fascination, on both sides of the mask were two matching black wings, much like those of the dragons he had seen in books.

“So, dragon _tamer_ , then,” Jack said quietly. The man gave him a crooked smile and nodded.. “Still impressive—I’ve never heard of anyone taming a _dragon_ before. Hell, I used to be pretty glad that I don’t live in a place with dragons. I imagine that, even as pets, they’re just as destructive, though.”

The auburn-haired man pursed his lips in thought before moving his hand from Jack’s shoulder and making a “so-so” sign with it.

Jack chuckled as the hand was placed back on his shoulder. “You don’t say…” They danced in silence for a minute before Jack opened his mouth again. “You know, I had a friend who lived in dragon-infested areas. He was a Viking-prince or something—I was never really sure. He seemed pretty infatuated with dragons. I mean, not in the way you’d think, but he was always talking about how great it would be when he got to one someday and proved himself to his tribe. Whenever we got bored he was always drafting designs for these amazing weapons and he always wrote me about them,” Jack chuckled, a wistful look in his eye. “He was a pretty great guy and, _god_ what a brain! I was always telling him he was fine the way he was and he never really believed me or anything. Hell, he’d just roll his eyes at me and swat me away like an annoying insect,” Jack bit his lip, “but maybe that was all I was—a pest.”

It wasn’t until the music had changed its tune when Jack remembered the man that stood in front of him. _Damn it, not again_ , Jack thought to himself. The other man bit his lip and Jack immediately felt guilt and embarrassment him wash over him in a terrible wave.

“S-sorry, again,” Jack spluttered nervously. “I just, I don’t know, I miss him a lot.” Jack tossed his head back and groaned. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable—can I start over?” Jack grimaced.

 _Again with the smile,_ Jack thought when the other man nodded. He grinned, “Okay, in that case—hello, I’m Jack Frost, Prince of Winter and your name is…?”

The man opened his mouth to respond and for a brief second, Jack thought he heard him utter something before he could stop himself. However, his partner immediately slammed his mouth shut and gave him a sly smirk. Jack gave a mock groan of irritation.

“So close,” Jack pouted, “can I at least guess?”

The man’s lips twitched into a sly smirk and Jack raised an eyebrow. He was never one to back down from a challenge.

But, _god_ how he’d love to see how those eyes looked right now.

“Well, you can’t just leave me with nothing,” Jack frowned. “At least give me a hint.”

The man tilted his head to the side a bit, suggesting that he had just rolled his eyes at him. He tapped his chin for a minute before holding up three fingers.

“ ‘Three…’ So ‘C’ then?” Jack suggested. “Uh, ‘Caleb’? ‘Calvin’? ‘Clayton’? No?” Jack pouted as the other man shook his head to each suggestion, laughing breathily each time. He moved both his hands to show eight digits before quickly moving them back into position.

Jack stared blankly at his odd dancing partner, completely perplexed with the clues given to him. “You’re not making this any easier for me, Dragon-boy,” Jack said with an affected sigh. “Alright, eight then? What’s eight…” Jack tilted his head as he hummed the alphabet, counting it off with the fingers that were placed near his dance partner’s hips. “ ‘H’? Uh, alright, ‘Harold’? ‘Henry’? ‘Hi—‘” Jack suddenly stopped in his steps. Of course, he would be brought back to Hiccup. Fantastic. Of course, the night he decides to forget him would be the night his mind kept wandering back.

Jack took a deep breath and looked back at the face in front of him, expecting a look of irritation at Jack’s constant moment of pained nostalgia. However, the man in the black, gold, and green mask was giving him the same smile that seemed to do a better job than Cupid’s arrows the entire night. Jack’s eyes widened at his mind clicked and everything around him seemed to evaporate in a swirl of bright lights and faded music. Things began to fit into place—the silence, the freckles, the hair, the smiles. An image began to form in Jack’s mind as the pieces of the puzzle finally came together.

“Do I know you?” Jack whispered.

The other man’s mouth broke into a wide, crooked smile. His lips parted as he began to speak and Jack felt his breath hitch.

“HICCUP! HICCUP, WHERE ARE YOU?!”

Jack was pulled back into reality as they broke eye contact and his partner’s head turned in the direction of a large, bearded man that Jack identified as none other than Stoick the Vast of Berk.

“Damn.”

Jack’s hear stopped and his jaw dropped at the sound of a voice that, although deeper than he remembered, was undeniably familiar to him. His state of shock was so intense that he barely paid heed as the man with the black mask basically dragged him away from the scene. Jack’s heart was zapped back into action, hammering so quickly and loudly that Jack thought he could hear it, as a tall curtain wrapped around them, hiding them from everyone else in the party.

Jack gawked at the man, who sighed in relief and popped his shoulder as he stretched.

“Well, I guess my cover’s blown now; there’s no point in wearing this thing anymore," the other man lowered his head, bringing the elastic band that kept the mask on him over his head. The mask was clutched between two fingers as its wearer used a freehand to fix his auburn hair.

Jack’s heart was going insane now with his breathing heavy and excited. Time seemed to stop for him when the mysterious stranger gazed at him with wide green emeralds for eyes. A side of the man’s lips lifted him a smile as he gave Jack a sheepish look.

Jack took the man by his arms as his eyes explored the unmasked face, taking in every change that had occurred in the past five years yet still being able to recognize the visage that was so uniquely Hiccup that Jack felt absolutely foolish that he didn’t recognize him before.

“It’s really you," Jack finally choked out, his eyes welling up with tears. “My god, it’s really you!"

Hiccup laughed, his green eyes twinkling with relief and pure happiness as he lifted his hands to cup the white-haired prince’s cheeks, his distinctive mask still held lightly between his index and middle fingers. “Hi, Jack," he breathed.

A long, heavy curtain that sat in a corner of the ballroom, next to a large window that no one sat by, rustled and shook for a second in the middle of the evening during a crowded and busy masquerade ball. Most of the party’s participants paid it no heed, as they were preoccupied with matters of their own. However, a passerby, an E. Aster with a furrowed brow and (according to a certain someone) a stick up his ass, gave the curtain a surprised look, wondering how it moved when the window it served to cover wasn’t even open. He passed it off with a shrug before hopping off to find the young man for which this extravaganza was held and give him an earful about leaving him with a loquacious woman and shirking his responsibilities.

Meanwhile, the Prince wrapped his arms around a brunet that he still considered his dear Viking boy. His heart soared as the other brought his face forward so that their breaths mingled. Jack felt Hiccup’s breath falter in his nervousness as their lips gradually came closer. Impatient as usual, Jack took the final step, moving forward so that their lips met. Jack felt Hiccup shiver as the Viking wrapped his arms around his lover’s neck and held the lanky brunet tighter. Jack sighed as their lips glided together before biting Hiccup’s bottom lip as a “punishment."

During their reunion kiss, time seemed to stop altogether and everything else melted away in a muffled mixture of chatter and music. The five years away from each other did not seem to hinder the two in their embrace as the green-eyed man moaned, running a hand through his first love’s white locks. The black mask escaped his grasp and rolled down the Prince’s back, to the concern of neither, before hitting the carpet with a muffled thud.

**Author's Note:**

> w o w I'm not sure why this took me as long as it did to write, but I still wanted to write it all the same so here it is! Yet another Hijack AU with unclear roles or time periods because it'll only be about two chapters (if i decide to write the continuation after all) and because I'm terribly lazy.  
> Either way, thanks for reading, I appreciate you sticking through it all! u v u


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